Legion of Super Heroes: A Crisis Approaches
by The Amazing Shrinking Violet
Summary: Picking up where Season Two left off, this story explores a possible outcome to the events, and a new adventure and new members of the ever-growing Superman Family.


Legion of Super Heroes

in

"A Crisis Approaches"

Arc One: "The Crisis Begins"

Chapter One: "A Newcomer Enters the Fray"

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this work of fiction belong to me, for the most part; they belong to DC Comics and Warner Bros Entertainment, as well as being created by other people a considerable amount of time ago, as anyone intimately familiar with this series would know. I receive no profit, money, or anything other than my own satisfaction in writing this fanfiction, nor would I intend to; it is only my goal to entertain others with this story, which I have dreamed up, and finally beginning a LoSH project, which I always intended to do.

Author's Note: This story is a sort of Season Three replacement in this timeline, though not using the basic outline of season three was it was conceived, but rather my own idea for it, using elements from all available DC lore, especially that of the Legion and Superman, but also including other things, which I won't say here for fear of spoiling things for anyone reading this.

* * *

It was shortly after his induction into the Legion of Super Heroes, and the young man known as Superman X, or, now, Kell-El, was contemplating the state of affairs as he began entering the time portal-slash-tunnel created by the Warp Key. As he began scaling the tunnel, there was a sudden explosion that rocked the Legion HQ to its very core. Quickly, the enhanced Superman clone began flying away from the portal, leaving a red energy trail behind him, closing the tunnel as he left, and began rejoining the rest of the Legion, who were gathering outside, to survey the damage and find out what had just happened.

After the Imperiex and Brainiac 5 crisis, both Supermen were to return to their respective time periods, and resume their lives (or rather, in Kell's case, start his), Kell using his Warp Key, Clark using the Time Bubble technology that the now-departed Brainiac 5 had developed two years ago for the purpose of recruiting the teenaged Clark Kent into the Legion, in order to help fight against the Fearsome Five, which later led to Superman joining the Legion full-time, at least for an extended period of time, before being dropped back into his own time, right where he had left it. Their goodbyes were said, and this was supposed to be their farewell, at least for now.

Superman X flew up into the sky, joining Superman, Shrinking Violet, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, and Triplicate Girl, while the other Legionnaires began searching along the ground level of the street. Then, the source of the explosion could be seen - it was the Legion of Super Villains (Esper, Tyr, Hunter, and Wave, backed by a large number of armored Scavengers, minor annoyances at the best of times, but in their sheer numbers, they could be a bother).

"Well now, it's about time you showed up. We didn't get to say goodbye," Tyr said, smirking as he opened fire, only for his blasts to be blocked by Superman X's chest symbol-mounted force-shield, much to his annoyance. The dark skinned man continued to fire, with Superman closing in on him, only to be blindsided by Wave, who struck the Last Son of Krypton with her prehensile hair, swatting the red and blue clad hero aside and into the ground below, with surprising force, though not making much of an impact crater.

"Is that all you losers got?" Lightning Lad's new cybernetic arm turned into its cannon mode, and at that point, the redhead began firing large bolts of lightning, striking Hunter in the chest, and sending the tall man into a pile of the flying Scavengers. "We should take this fight to the ground...otherwise we're going to make more of a mess!"

"You're right...everyone, start moving, and take out whoever you can!" Superman began flying, hitting Tyr with his shoulder and then flying downwards, the super villain held down, only to be released at the last minute, to collide with the ground with a devastating impact that left him out cold for the moment.

"Well, this isn't going well..." Esper remarked sourly, her eyes glowing pink as she began to scan the area for anything she could use as a weapon...and sensing something dark, and powerful. "Oh, that's very nice...I can work with that..."

* * *

The dark and powerful presence had earlier entered the neighborhood of the Legion's headquarters via a distortion in space/time, being deposited in an alleyway with no indication as to where it had come from. The only distinguishing features the creature had was a female figure, a rather voluptious and well-built form almost completely concealed in black bodysuit with a white hood connected to a black mask with red eye lenses, a white cape hung over the shoulders, a number of glowing blue lines, white fingers to the black gloves, ridged soles to the boots attached to the suit, and what appeared to be a number of damaged restraints, dripping a green fluid, indicating that she had either been drenched in something, or immersed. The most distinctive feature of this costume, however, was the very familar S logo (with black in place of the yellow of the usual pentagon emblem) in white on her chest.

With a confused air about her, the figure stood, only to feel Esper in her mind. There came a scream for a moment, hands clawing at the hood concealing her features, before she went rigid, and then pushed off of the ground, flying under her own power, heading into the fight.

* * *

Kell was finding that the Scavengers were fighting a little better than usual, though still nowhere in his league. As he trapped a group of six in a mass of green crystal, he could hear the sound of wind moving around a flying object, and turned as fast as he could...

...only to get struck in the face by a black-gloved fist, the clone spiralling down through the sky and hitting the side of the Legion building. Rubbing the right side of his jaw, which was now aching a bit, he looked up to see the mysterious figure in black and white, floating in mid-air, before advancing on him, and throwing another punch. Soon enough, the two were trading blows, Kell's glove 'blades' striking against the surprisingly resilient bodysuit and only putting light tears into it, while the strange figure could only strike hard against Kell's fists, and put bruises and scratches on the other. Then, the red lenses of the mask began to grow redder, and a burst of what could only be heat vision erupted from the shadowy woman's eyes, nailing Kell in the chest and driving him back....at least until he countered with his own heat vision, the two exchanging fire as they zigged and zagged through the sky.

After an especially brutal punch to his right temple, Kell 'staggered' back, feeling a faint trickle of blood running down his face, and growled dangerously. Then his eyes locked on that almost-mocking emblem on his attackers face, and the barely-contained rage he felt exploded, and he flat-out rushed towards the mystery woman, and began savagely punching her in the face, head, and chest, striking hard and fast, with almost-lethal precision, sounds of pain beginning to come from the concealed mouth of the figure, who suddenly froze in mid-air, before regarding the 41st Century clone of Superman, and, with a tone that was dripping malice, pointed at the hybrid Kryptonian and spoke. At the same time, the white portions of the costume began to turn a crimson red, the color of blood.

"You...DON'T....f___ng...EVER...lay...a f____ing finger on me...EVER." With that, the now-freed woman rushed at the clone, and began returning every blow he gave her, his blocks doing little to help - it was almost as though this strange being was becoming stronger in her anger, and somehow doing more damage to him than she was doing before. She kicked him away, and growled. "Now for the little bitch who was in my head..."

* * *

"Oh...hell." Esper could feel her grip on the stranger's mind slipping, as well as the intense hatred and fractured personality that was welling up...as well as the very real intent on being the Saturnian to death with her own limbs. Her eyes began glowing, and she began firing 'mind blasts' at the woman, who just dodged them with surprising speed, until Esper spotted the logo on the woman's chest, and realized she was most likely dealing with someone with the same powers as the two Supermen...which meant this person could really tear her to pieces if she so wanted to. "Guys, I need a little help here!" She called out, narrowly dodging a blast of heat vision that still managed to burn her skin and singe her hair, drying out her eye as the wide blast missed her by two meters. "Seriously! Right now!"

"What's wrong now?!" Tyr snapped, furiously trying to swat at Violet, who kept shrinking and enlarging herself until she finally shrunk down, got into his weapon, and caused it to short out, knocking him out of the fight for good. Panicking, Esper began to flee, only to collide into a wall of black and white. Fearfully, she looked up...seeing the black and white mask, with glowing red eye lenses. Then, white fingers seized her throat, and almost incoherent screaming erupted from the mouth of her former victim. As Esper's eyes began to roll back into her head, it looked like she was finally going to be killed for her villainous ways.

Only one person could stop the stranger. And that person did just that.

Superman rushed forward, and broke the grip the woman had on Esper's throat, the bare-footed telepath falling to the ground, blacked out. The Kryptonian found himself almost unable to fend off the masked newcomer, who seemed to possess unearthly strength for someone of her size (not being very tall or muscular), and was screaming at him - he had a feeling if her mask was off, she'd be spitting in his face with each word. As he did his best to dodge her attacks, furious punches and kicks aimed for the vital areas of a human, but clearly having little effect on the Kryptonian, aside from the odd sting of her blows against him, which felt something like when his powers were disrupted, the woman began to talk...scream, really...incoherently, before finally making sense as she hit him with a double handed, overhead blow to the back of his head.

"YOU DIRTY F---! I'LL F---ING KILL YOU FOR GETTING IN MY WAY!! I'LL–!!" Then, all of a sudden, the furious screaming stopped, and the woman just floated there, the red on her costume changing back to neutral white. Superman regarded her cautiously, preparing himself for another attack, before his eyes widened in surprise as the black and white garbed figure fell from the sky, plummetting to the ground below and hitting a large grouping of Scavengers, the impact and resulting sonic wave blowing them all away and knocking them out cold. The red and blue clad superhero looked to Saturn Girl, who was floating a few feet below him.

"Saturn Girl...did you...?" He asked, confused. Her reply was to shake her head before speaking.

"No, I didn't...I could feel it happen, though...at first, she was pure rage...then all of a sudden, her mind just...shut down."

"At least she's not hitting us anymore..." Superman X said sourly, brushing his gloves against the legs of his pants, grunting as he walked over to the crater made by the strange visitor, prodding her with his foot.

"That's not very nice, y'know," Shrinking Violet said in her slightly husky voice, regarding the clone with a disapproving look with her one visible eye, the other concealed behind her styled black and purple hair. Superman landed next to the somewhat diminuitive Legionnaire, and nodded. "You should be more careful...she's probably not a villain, from the way she freaked out on Esper...so she must've been under mind control or something..."

"We should take her back to Legion HQ right away...do medical scans...and see if we can find out where she's from," Superman said, getting down on one knee, placing his arms underneath the black clad woman, and lifted her up, cradling her in his arms, and flew over to the Legion building, and then set down, and entered inside as the door slid open, a concerned look on his face as the others followed him in.

* * *

"This was a lot easier when Brainy was around..." the Triplicate Girl(s) sighed as she, split in to her three bodies, moved around the medilab, where their 'guest'/captive was floating in a large clear tube of blue liquid, her 'costume' still in place - they had tried to remove it, only to find that it was hermetically sealed, and could only be opened by entering in a specific combination of numbers on a wrist panel, and since they had no clue where she was from, or why such an antiquated system was being used, they currently had no way to open it. The white T-girl looked over to the purple one, and sighed softly, shaking her head as she placed a hand against the tube that was keeping their guest pacified.

Finally, a tone sounded, meaning the DNA scan was finished. The three moved over to the main panel of the computer, and merged together, the purple, white, and orange clad girl looking over the results, her eyes widening. "Oh wow..." She then lifted her flight ring, and spoke into it. "Superman? Kell? I'm gonna need you guys in the medilab right away...we just got the results back on our new 'friend', and they're gonna surprise you..."

After what was only a minute, the two Men of Steel flew into the lab, and set down, Kell leaning up against the wall and sighing, bored, while Superman approached Triplicate Girl, a concerned look on his face.

"What did you find, Triplicate Girl?"

"Well...I'm not sure how you're gonna take this...but this woman...seems to be a composite. Of some kind of DNA we can't identify...and yours."

"What?" Superman looked even more concerned now, before glancing back at the tank, just as the masked figure pressed her hand against the glass, the colors of her bodysuit turning to a shade of grey. Almost hypnotized, the original Man of Steel approached the tank, placing his right hand against the tank. "I...can almost feel her sadness..." the Last Son of Krypton said, blinking, as the figure's suit went white again, and she slumped, seemingly passing out. "So, when you say composite...you mean like Kell?"

"Yes...only more primitive. Way more primitive. The initial readings seem to indicate that her body's not completely accepting your DNA, and that the suit was stabilizing her. Fortunately, we found tube ports for injections, and are pumping a fluid into her that'll stabilize her cell structure permanently." Triplicate Girl nodded, keeping her face looking neutral for the moment. Superman looked back to her, smiling a bit.

"Then she's a clone. A new family member."

"Oh, great; you're adopting her too?" Kell groaned, slapping his forehead with some disgust at his predecessor's sentimentality at the being that tried to beat him up. "Just because it has your DNA doesn't mean it's like you, Kal. For all we know, it's some crazy bioweapon someone sicced on us in some overly elaborate and stupidly complex plan for revenge."

"I can't describe it...but I can feel it. She doesn't mean us any harm...it was Esper, controlling her...Saturn Girl confirmed as much herself in her probing of this girl's mind."

"But that was about all I could find," Saturn Girl's voice cut in as the blonde entered the lab, looking at the others with a look much like Superman's on her face. "Whatever's been done to this girl, she's got pretty severe mental trauma from something that happened to her. I can tell she had a life before this, but it's all muddled...the most I can get is her memories of being experimented on...and a sense of overwhelming helplessness, and being unable to move."

"Jeeze..." Triplicate Girl bit her lower lip, a now-sympathetic look on her face, worry in her eyes. "Well, at least she's safe now."

"I think we should take her in," Superman said suddenly, startling everyone. "Because of the test results...and the emblem on her chest...we'll call her...Superwoman."

"Wow. You really can't name anything original, can you?" Kell said, rolling his black and green eyes, somewhat amused at his 'ancestor's' choice in monikers for the girl in the tank.

"Well, I was thinking...if she'll accept it...that her real name can be Laurel...it's what my parents were going to name their daughter, if they ever had one. I'd like to think Ma would approve of this..." Superman smiled, turning from the tank and giving his friends a cheerful look. "Besides, I've always wanted a sister. Especially since Kell's like my cranky, sour younger brother."

"Oh, I'm younger, am I? You're not that old yourself, Kal." The clone rolled his eyes again, chuckling sardonically. It was then that Saturn Girl decided to cut in.

"I think we should let our visitor get some rest...then we'll all talk to her when she's feeling well. Her mind DID completely shut down out there."

"That's a good idea, Saturn Girl...Laurel needs to recover...when she's feeling better, then we can find out if she can remember anything about how she got here, or where she's from..." Superman said, nodding as he began to move away from the tank.

"Yes...I can tell she can remember more than I can access...but her mind was so...shattered I couldn't piece it all together...but maybe she'll know more herself." The blonde nodded, smiling to her friend as he passed her. And with that, everyone began filing out of the lab, the door closing behind them and the lights dimming, a faint glow coming from the blue markings on the black bodysuit, along the arms and below the right side of the chest symbol.

* * *

End Notes: And so ends the first chapter. In case anyone's wondering, the distinctive look of the 'mood suit' comes from a certain member of the Superman family, and was adapted for this story. As to the identity of the newly-dubbed Superwoman, that will be revealed in a much-later fanfic in this series. Thanks for reading, and if you like it enough to review, I'd be glad to read and respond to them.


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